July 2, 2024 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council voted on June 27, 2024 during its four-day meeting in Freeport, Maine to “discontinue development” of an action that potentially would have given scallop fishermen access to part of the Habitat Management Area on the Northern Edge of Georges Bank.
The Council viewed a staff presentation that summed up work to date and outlined additional decision points the Council needed to make regarding when and for how long scallopers would be able to access a new Northern Edge scallop rotational management area if one were to be developed.
The Council engaged in a lengthy debate, narrowing its focus to the pros and cons of further developing the alternatives for final action in September or stopping work on the action. In the end, the Council determined that, “after careful consideration of the ecological importance of the Northern Edge Habitat Management Area and the difficulties of identifying times and areas for scallop access that do not undermine those values,” it voted to halt further development of the framework.
The Council considered information about:
• The action’s goals and objectives;
• The latest memo provided by the Habitat and Scallop PDTs, which included cod spawning information along with details about scallop, habitat, and herring presence and condition; and
• The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s technical report on the lobster resource and fishery in and around the Northern Edge.